This year, January marks Parami's eighth year of making impact on the education landscape in Myanmar, providing youths with quality education since its inception in 2017. In June 2022, the District of Columbia Higher Education Licensure Commission in Washington, D.C., granted Parami degree-granting authority to offer two bachelor's degrees online. Combining the Class of 2026, 2027, and 2028, Parami has 215 students enrolled in two programs: Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) and Bachelor of Arts in Statistics and Data Science (SDS). Parami held its inaugural Associate Degree Awarding Ceremony in June 2024 with 43 graduates. Parami is now recruiting new students for the 2025-2026 academic year.
On January 9, 2017, Parami was founded as an institute offering its flagship program, the Parami Leadership Program (PLP), to students across Myanmar. The program ended in 2022, and PLP has 156 alumni from 8 Cohorts who are currently employed in NGOs, INGOs, and community-based organizations and are pursuing further studies abroad. The PLP program wrapped up with eighth cohorts in 2022.
An alumna, Pyay Oo Myay, completed her PLP in 2017 as part of the third cohort. She highlights how the program offered her invaluable experiences in mentorship, leadership, friendship, and partnership. These opportunities shaped her education, personal development, and decision-making. Pyay noted at Parami's 8th Anniversary celebration, “My academic background in liberal arts and sciences at Parami, combined with my knowledge of international education and business, inspired me to think globally and act locally.”
A research project on solar energy conducted during her PLP journey became the foundation for pursuing her dream career in the solar energy sector—a field to which she continues to contribute passionately.
Another inspiring alumnus, Dr. Min Htun Myat Wai, began his journey with a Parami short course before joining the final PLP cohort. He credits the program for transforming his life by providing connections, exceptional mentorship, and invaluable skills such as critical thinking, management, and research. Reflecting on his experience, he states, "Without PLP, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to learn all these skills."
Today, Dr. Min Htun has returned to his dream profession in healthcare and works at Mae Tao Clinic, where he serves patients from the migrant community with compassion and dedication.
The transition from Parami Institute to Parami University reflects its growth from offering short-term training programs to providing degree-granting education, such as associate degrees. This change symbolizes its commitment to expanding access to quality higher education and empowering communities through transformative learning.
Transforming to Online Education
Parami University is more than an institution offering university-level education; its impact reaches far beyond. While emphasizing quality education for undergraduate students, the university didn’t miss providing lifelong learning programs such as modular courses, ParamiX courses, MOOC, AEM-Parami ELI, free Google Career Certificate programs, free DataCamp courses, and HEAP to thousands of students from Myanmar and border areas.
One of Parami’s defining characteristics is its commitment to fostering a global perspective through its life-long learning philosophy. In 2021, the COVID-19 and political crisis disrupted the education path of youths across Myanmar, and many dropped out of school.
Despite the situation in Myanmar, Parami University continues its commitment to offer education to Myanmar youths that is accessible to everyone. In the summer of 2021, Parami launched its eight-week-long modular classes in different subjects such as business, politics, environment, and social science.
Modular Courses
Timeline: June 2021 - June 2022
Parami launched the 8-week modular courses in the summer of 2021, designed to provide greater flexibility for Parami Leadership Program (PLP) and (PSEP) Parami Social Entrepreneurship Program students while catering to working professionals seeking to enhance their skills and advance their careers. These courses spanned a wide range of subjects and were taught by university-level lecturers, consistently earning high satisfaction ratings from students. From June 2021 to June 2022, Parami offered 82 modular courses, accepted 2477 applicants, and admitted 1282 participants—nearly 700 admitted applicants completed the courses and received certifications.
AEM-Parami ELI
Timeline: January 2022 - 2023
In January 2022, the AEM-Parami English Language Initiative (ELI) was launched in collaboration between Parami University and American English Myanmar to offer English language courses tailored to Myanmar youth. AEM-Parami’s program provided free language learning opportunities for Myanmar students planning to further their education or professionals looking to advance their careers. The program offered 36 classes, received 10,391 applications, admitted 1039, and 608 selected applicants completed the courses. As the program ended, Parami launched free online self-paced English courses for the public to learn English courses adapted from the courses currently offered at AEM-Parami ELI.
MOOC
Timeline: July 2022 - July 2023
In July 2022, Parami introduced other thought leadership courses, such as the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in Burmese language, aiming to cultivate thought leadership through readings, including classical and contemporary works in humanities, philosophy, political thought, history, literature, and social studies. The semester-long program welcomed twenty instructors across Myanmar to teach 40 study groups. The first and second batches of the program received 1,823 applicants, 1,200 enrolled in the programs, and 596 completed them.
ParamiX Courses
Timeline: August 2022 - April 2024
Parami offers live online courses across diverse fields, including humanities, social sciences, arts, and sciences, each semester. These courses are carefully selected to provide unique learning opportunities not commonly found in commercial programs. They focus on holistic development, soft skills essential for the 21st-century workplace, and critical reasoning abilities. Although non-credit-bearing, the courses were taught by university faculty and industry experts. The 12-week programs, conducted in English, include a 3-week project period. Parami charges a nominal fee to support education technology costs. Parami offered 20 ParamiX courses under themes such as Changemaker and Go Global. The courses received 470 applicants, of which 297 were admitted, and 165 completed the courses. All projects from ParamiX participants are available here: https://project.parami.edu.mm/pice.
Google Career Certification Programs
Timeline: 2022 - Present
Parami University partnered with Grow with Google in late 2022 to provide Google Career Certificate Programs designed to pass on job-ready skills in high-growth careers. In partnership with Grow with Google, Parami initially offered five self-paced Google Career Certificates, which later expanded to nine courses for high school and university students and working professionals. GGC programs attracted 1944 applications, enrolled 879 participants, and 466 learners completed the courses.
DataCamp
Timeline: October 2024 - Present
Parami has partnered with DataCamp Donates to offer scholarships to interested individuals who wish to advance their careers in data science, statistics, AI, and machine learning. These scholarships provide free access to 510+ DataCamp courses. About 447 applications were received from interested individuals, and 391 were enrolled in different courses. The next admissions for these free courses will start in March 2025.
HEAP
Timeline: December 2024 - Present
Supported by the USAID Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship Program (DISP), Parami University and Bard College launched the Higher Education Access Program (HEAP). The program was designed for students who have faced challenges in completing high school or who need to build critical thinking, digital literacy, analysis, and academic writing skills to thrive in international university degree programs. The program received 1021 applications, and 163 applicants were accepted.
This milestone is a testament to the institution's unwavering support and belief in the power of education. Over the years, the institution has grown from a bold idea to a thriving center of learning that empowers young minds, fosters critical thinking, and builds a vibrant academic community. Reflecting on this journey reveals significant achievements and exciting possibilities for the future.
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